Women's Basketball Falls to Catholic University of America, 56-55, on Late Three-Pointer

The Moravian College women's basketball's basketball team had an 11-point halftime lead slip away as The Catholic University of America sophomore guard Emily Grabiak hit a three-pointer with six seconds left to give the Cardinals a 56-55 victory in Landmark Conference action Saturday.

Freshman forward Alexis Wright led the Greyhounds with 16 points and ten rebounds for her second double-double of the weekend. Wright also had three blocked shots for Moravian, now 12-8 overall and 5-4 in Landmark Conference action, and it was her fifth double-double of the season, all in the month of January. 

The Cardinals, who moved to 16-4 overall and 7-2 in conference play, jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a lay-up from junior guard Jill Woerner at 19:23, and a pair of free throws by junior forward Katarina Owunna gave Catholic a 4-0 just 1:16 into the game. The Greyhounds would get on the scoreboard on a jumper from senior forward Alexandra Blair at the 18:08 mark, and her jumper started an 11-0 run by Moravian as the Greyhounds took an 11-4 lead on a three-pointer from sophomore guard Danielle Brogan with 14:30 left in the first half.

Woerner would stop Moravian's run with a lay-up at 12:30 but then the Greyhounds ran off six more points with a jumper from sophomore guard Katie O'Rourke giving Moravian its first double-digit lead at 17-6 with 10:31 before the intermission. Catholic closed within six points, 25-19, on a three-pointer by junior guard Jenny McGann with 5:28 on the clock; however, the Greyhounds eventually pushed the lead to 13 points at 34-21 with 1:20 before halftime on another Brogan three-pointer. Junior forward Kelli Josephsen hit a jumper with 26 seconds left for the Cardinals as the Moravian would head to the locker room with a 34-23 lead.

The Greyhounds connected on 12-of-32 field goal attempts (38 percent) in the opening half, and Moravian was three-for-six behind the three-point line and seven-for-eight at the foul line. The Greyhounds also had a 22-21 edge in rebounds in the opening 20 minutes of action, and Moravian had ten turnovers while Catholic made 13 miscues. The Cardinals were nine-for-32 from the floor (28 percent), two-for-eight on three-pointers and three-for-four at the foul line in the first half.

Owunna started the second half for the Cardinals with a lay-up just five seconds while Blair would connect on a jumper at the 18:34 mark for Moravian's first points of the second half. Wright hit a jumper at 16:55 as Moravian had a 38-28 lead. The Cardinals scored the next seven points of the game to pull within three at 38-35 after a jumper by Josephsen with 14:36 to play.

Junior guard Amanda Kreuder snapped the Catholic run with a free throw at 13:57, and a jumper from Wright gave Moravian a 41-37 lead at 13:17. Owunna would grab an offensive rebound and put the ball back in the basket to cut the Greyhounds' advantage to 43-40 with ten minutes left in the second half.

Moravian, which went over four minutes without a point midway through the half, would pull ahead 45-40 on a jumper from sophomore forward Laura Jordan at the 8:31 mark, and a jumper from Wright pushed the advantage to 51-42 with 5:40 remaining.

Woerner pulled the Cardinals within five points, 53-48, with a lay-up at the 2:48 mark but O'Rourke answered with a pair of free throws six seconds later. Josephsen hit a free throw with 1:57 remaining to pull Catholic within four points, and then McGann then hit a lay-up at 1:18 as the Cardinals moved within two points, 55-53. Grabiak's winning shot came with six seconds to go after Blair had missed a free throw. Kreuder had a shot at the buzzer but it was off the mark.

Catholic connected on 13-of-34 field goal attempts (38 percent) in the final 20 minutes, and the Cardinals were one-for-four on three-pointers and six-for-ten at the foul line. Catholic finished the game with a 45-42 edge in rebounds, and the Cardinals had just five turnovers in the second half for 18 in the game while Moravian made ten second half turnovers for a game total of 20. The Greyhounds were nine-for-25 from the floor (36 percent) after the intermission but just three-for-seven at the foul line and missed all three of their three-point attempts.

Brogan had nine points for Moravian, all in the first half, to go with six rebounds while Blair finished with eight points and four boards. O'Rourke added six points, three rebounds and three assists for the Greyhounds while Jordan had four rebounds and three points. 

Josephsen and Woerner each had 13 points to lead Catholic with Josephsen adding seven rebounds and a pair of assists while Woerner had five boards. Owunna finished with a double-double for the Cardinals with ten points and a game high 13 rebounds to go with three blocked shots while McGann added eight points and three boards. Grabiak finished with seven points, four assists and four rebounds.

Moravian will return to action on Friday, February 3rd when the Greyhounds host Susquehanna University in a Landmark Conference game in Johnston Hall tipping off at 5:30 p.m.